As consumer vehicles, such as cars and trucks, become more technologically complicated, operation of that vehicle becomes even more difficult. Today there is such an array of devices in trucks and cars that driver distraction is a major problem. To ease the driver's burden, mobile telematics systems and services have evolved that integrate wireless communications and (usually) location determining devices into vehicles to perform a number of tasks including, for example, carrying out remote engine diagnostics, locating stolen vehicles, and providing roadside assistance. Integration of such telematics systems requires significant design and implementation costs, not to mention the costly hardware that needs to be installed in the vehicle. Even though some manufacturers have started to include telematics systems with new vehicles, most new vehicles on the road today do not have such systems. More importantly, most manufacturers do not design vehicles to house such complex technology. When the manufacturers do incorporate this technology, it requires extra wiring and complexity. Thus, a need exists to make simpler systems both for installation at the site of manufacturing and retrofitting into existing vehicles without having to modify the vehicle in any substantial way (whether in terms of cost or labor).
While most vehicles do not have telematics systems pre-installed, many vehicles do have other kinds of integrated electronic communication devices. One kind of communications device that can be found in some vehicles is a Bluetooth transceiver. Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). A Bluetooth gateway provides measures for connection and exchanging information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras, and video game consoles over a secure, globally unlicensed short-range radio frequency. Equipping vehicles with a Bluetooth transceiver (also referred to as a Bluetooth gateway) makes it possible to link the vehicle with other Bluetooth-compatible devices brought into or near the car, the most common of which is a Bluetooth-compatible cell phone.
When a Bluetooth-compatible cell phone is brought into a vehicle equipped with a Bluetooth transceiver, a data link is created between the phone and the transceiver. The most common feature made available to owners of vehicles so equipped is the ability to talk on the cell phone in a hands-free manner. In this embodiment, the vehicle is provided with a microphone (at least one near or directed at the head of the driver) for receiving audio from at least the driver (and, possibly, any passenger within the vehicle). A speaker system commonly associated with a vehicle's radio is temporarily connected to the transceiver and is, thereby, used to present any received audio signals to the user. Of course, dedicated speakers can be provided in the vehicle for this function or even a combination of these exemplary configurations. With such a configuration, bi-directional audio communication is made available to occupants of the vehicle.
Another common Bluetooth feature is the ability to display and/or use the phone list stored in the cell phone for making calls without having to touch the cell phone. Either the vehicle is provided with a voice-recognition system to select a particular number in the cell phone's phone number list or has mechanical controls for doing so, or both. Such systems, however, do not have the ability to expand beyond these limited functions.
There exists a need to be able to provide a simplified, cost-effective telematics system to be used both by original equipment manufacturers for new vehicle installations and by owners of existing vehicles for retrofitting into vehicles only having a Bluetooth transceiver without having to modify the vehicle in any substantial way (whether in terms of cost or labor). Even with the advent of telematics systems in vehicles today, there is not currently a service that is deployed to solve the above-described problems. Thus, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide a telematics system in a vehicle where one did not exist before and where the vehicle was not pre-configured to provide such features.